


In the afternoons

by orphan_account



Category: Revolution (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-13
Updated: 2014-01-13
Packaged: 2018-01-08 14:30:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1133762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Charlie and Bass find a way to talk.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In the afternoons

They were lying on their backs under a tree on the grass. Charlie and Bass a few feet apart from each other. Talking desultorily in the heat. Across a small space and spread amongst the cover of the trees the rest of the group were resting out of the sun. It was too hot to travel right now and they did better in the darkness when they all had to move together.

Charlie could hear Miles and her mom talking, a soft murmuring. A few snores from Gene. Charlie missed Aaron and wondered where he was, if they would find him again. If he was yet another person to just walk out of her life and disappear for good. She cracked an eye and looked at Bass who was tapping a stick against his boot, as ever completely unable to keep still or quiet much. She has been surprised to see him come back this time. Dragging his feet behind her mom and Miles. Everyone being grim and tight lipped about what had happened.

 

Finding Connor had been… unexpected. Not what he had wanted. Awful. He was nursing his back a little and Miles had made them slow down a bit, though he had shown him no other kindness. Maybe to give him time to recover. Charlie didn’t know from what or who. She wasn’t going to ask only to be rebuffed. And in the moments when he wasn't seeking distraction talking to her she could see him thinking furiously, desperately trying to solve whatever kind of problem he had found in Mexico. He would not ask anyone for help. In any case today she found she was perfectly content to be lying under a tree in the shade on a hot day. Trading lazy insults with Monroe. He’d gotten himself onto a roll and was expounding on something about her stance when she held her crossbow, it was making her laugh inwardly, as he knew well.

‘Shhhhuuut up’ she sighed at him. ‘I’m not gonna take the bait.’

‘It’s just matter of time’ he laughed.

It was probably true. Monroe would needle her until she was riled and then laugh and laugh when she returned his barbs and complaints. He was ridiculously hard to offend. Comments about his prowess in fighting, his efforts to reconnect with Miles, his cooking, his temper, his patience, his leadership, his pride (‘Jimmy King… really you could pick any name in the world and you choose King?...don’t think much of yourself hey?’ ‘What should I have called myself Charlie?.... Walter Plum? I was a prize fighter.’), they all just rolled of his back. He just nodded and shrugged off all her attacks, happy. He gave absolutely nothing away. 

Charlie on the other hand had leapt to her own defence every time he started on her until the day she realised he didn’t mean a word of what he was saying (or most of it)and that he was just amusing himself. At her expense sure, but it didn’t feel mean and he seemed to relish her attempts to get him back. Most of their conversations led to them both laughing helplessly at the ridiculousness of the complaints they levelled at each other. More than once they had ended up swearing stupidly, and without any intent whatsoever, just to try to get the last word.

‘Ass head’

‘Oooo Ass head, that really stings Charlie’

‘Whatever… it's better than whatever it was you tried to call me yesterday, what was that again…dupus?’

‘Dufus...idiot… can’t believe you don’t know that word’ he stretched his arms above his head giving her a glimpse of a scab wrapped around his stomach and disappearing around his back as his shirt rode up. She stared and stared and when she looked up he was watching her, blue eyes intent.

‘Thanks for setting me straight. It’s so great to learn about olden times from somebody who lived through them.’ Charlie said.

He laughed as expected. But his eyes were serious for once and she was unsure if it was because she had seen the marks on his skin or something else.

Charlie sighed again and reached up to scratch at her tangled, unruly hair. 

‘I miss Maggie’ she said quietly.

Bass paused for a second at this. 

‘Why?’

She looked over at him and rolled her eyes.

‘I mean what do you miss about her right now?’

‘She used to brush my hair for me. God, I loved that, those little moments of peace.’

‘Why don’t you get your mom to do it?’

‘Wouldn’t be the same.’ She shifted onto her side and facedhim. 'I can’t remember the last time Maggie brushed my hair for me, I really wish I could…. Can I ask you something?’

‘Don’t be a dickhead Charlie… ask if you wanna know something. I’ll answer if I want to.’

‘When Miles left…you… did you really not know he was...going to… leave.. I mean...shit... I mean to say… you had no idea?’

‘Fucking hell Charlie.’ He couldn't believe she would ask.

They lay in silence for a few minutes and just when Charlie thought he had decided not to answer he cleared his throat, swallowing. She watched his face.

‘Looking back, now I can see a million things that I wish I had paid better attention to but no… that night… I had no clue.’ His voice rough but he kept on talking.

‘I was in a bad, weird state of mind anyway and...' He broke off when she snorted disbelief. 'And afterwards… I guess…I was just shocked. Completely adrift… Same old story though I guess’

‘What do you mean…same old story?’ 

 

He sighed.

'Don’t worry, its nothing, we should go and see what’s happening’ Bass started to stand up but Charlie put her hand out, catching his forearm and tugged him back down.

‘Don’t do that, Bass… don’t you do that too’ she said quietly. He looked at her, stretched out in the shade, barefoot, smudges of dust on her tank, watching him carefully with those clever blue eyes all of a sudden asking him for more. He settled back down, propped up on one elbow and tugged at the grass between them. 

‘Miles has always been good at just tying up the parts of his life he doesn’t want to think about anymore and moving on.’

Charlie was silent for a moment.

‘Sounds like a survival strategy to me.’

‘Yeah…no, it was just his way of being. That’s how he could always do everything he did and then walk away.’

There was silence between them and it drew out a long time.

‘I don’t know what to say.’

Bass looked at her again, focussing back on her from the distraction of his memories. She was thinking hard. A little line of concentration drawn between her eyebrows.

‘C’mon.’ he stood and reached down to grasp her hands and hauled her to her feet pretending she was an incredible weight and he had to really heave her up. He pulled her tight against him smiling broadly at her. Just for a second. She smiled back at him and then prodded him in the stomach making sure to get him right in the newly healing scabs that ran across the bottom of it. He winced slightly and she laughed up into his eyes needing to relieve the tension and get them back onto level ground.

‘Make one comment about the size of my ass, I dare you.’

He reached up and held her face in his hands and looked deeply into her eyes. She felt a bit breathless. She could feel each finger holding her jaw and pulling her into him until they were touching all the way from their barefeet in the dirt to their foreheads. She put her hands on his waist and waited.

‘Let’s just say. If my ass were that big, I wouldn’t be drawing attention to it with that belt.’ He dropped his hands and jumped back quickly out of range of her hands which went to smack him on the chest. He let out a huge laugh and she couldn’t help but smile at him.

‘Asshole’ she said bending over to pick up her boots. ‘I’ll get you back.’

‘Well, you’ll try.’ Cocky as ever. Leaning over he scooped up his own boots too.

‘Anyway, it’s completely out of order to make comments about my ass’ she huffed pretending to be serious. 

‘Oh c’mon Charlotte… you are glorious...’ he put a world of meaning and sincerity into it. She could hear he really meant it. At this unexpected compliment she stopped walking. For a few moments they just looked steadily at each other. Taking each other’s measure. Things had changed slightly.

‘… and don’t you know it…’ slyly, mocking her surprise.

‘God, you can’t even give a compliment nicely … Idiot.’

‘Oooo…Hit me with your best shot Charlie.’

‘yeah… yeah. Keep going Monroe, I am not gonna take the bait.'

They walked on, back to the others and their own company again.


End file.
